The disclosure herein relates to extra-corporeal blood treatment. More particularly, the disclosure relates to the connection of an extracorporeal blood set to a machine for extra-corporeal blood treatment (e.g., the connection of tubing, such as a return monitor line, or pressure pods used for measuring pressure of a fluid flowing through the pod).
Extracorporeal blood sets, for example, are used in a variety of medical procedures to treat patients, such as, the infusion of drugs, dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), etc. Reducing cost while maintaining safety and accuracy are of concern in today's healthcare environment. Reducing the number of tasks a user must perform and/or monitoring tasks performed such that the tasks are completed correctly, reduces the cost of operation and increases the quality of health care.
In many extracorporeal blood sets (e.g., disposable blood sets) provided, for example, for use in therapy systems, pressure pods are used to separate the liquid/blood filled disposable extracorporeal circuit from an electronic pressure sensor of the system by preventing liquid ingress and contamination while enabling the transfer and measurement of pressure. Such pressure pods may include a pressure transducer side separated from a fluid flow side by a diaphragm. In one or more configurations, for example, the pressure transducer side of the pressure pod is filled with air in a sealed space providing isolation (e.g., electrical isolation) thereof from the fluid flow side (e.g., liquid flow side) and a medium for the transfer of pressure from the fluid flow side to the pressure transducer side of the pressure pod, e.g., the compression of air. For example, the diaphragm which separates the pressure transducer side from the fluid flow side of the pressure pod may be flexible and oversized to ensure none of the force exerted by the pressure on the diaphragm in the extracorporeal blood circuit is lost to the tension or compression of the diaphragm. Further, for example, the pressure pod (e.g., the pressure transducer side of the pressure pod) may be operatively connected by tubing (e.g., air filled) to a pressure transducer for sensing pressure at a distance away from the pressure pod (e.g., a pressure transducer located in a system housing upon which the extracorporeal blood set is mounted or a system to which the extracorporeal blood set is connected).
Further, many extracorporeal blood sets may also contain other lines that must be connected to pressure ports to monitor the pressure therein. For example, such disposable sets may contain a return monitor line on the air side of a deaeration chamber that is to be connected to a return pressure port of a system to monitor the pressure in the patient blood return line using a pressure transducer within the system housing.
In other words, for example, each disposable extracorporeal blood set connectable to a treatment system (e.g., mounted on a system housing and connected to one or more pressure transducers therein) may contain multiple pressure pods. Each pressure pod may contain a diaphragm that separates a liquid (e.g., blood in the fluid side of the pressure pod) from an air cavity (e.g., on the transducer side of the pressure pod) and which is configured to fit into a pressure sensor or pod receptacle of the system (e.g., a connection apparatus for mounting the pressure pod on a dialysis unit). The pressure pods and pressure transducers (e.g., inside the control unit or system housing, such as a dialysis unit) enable noninvasive pressure monitoring of the liquid (e.g., blood), since the liquid never comes into contact with the actual pressure transducer. A pressure pod receptacle may provide a connection between the pressure pods and the pressure transducers within the system housing. For example, the pressure pods may be manually attached to the pressure pod receptacle by a user each time a new disposable blood set is installed. The connection between the pressure pod and the pressure pod receptacle must be airtight to yield valid pressure sensor readings by the pressure transducers within the system housing. Likewise, connecting the return monitor line to the return pressure port is also a manual operation. After installation of the pressure pods and connection of the return line, the user is typically requested to indicate via a graphical user interface associated with the system that the pressure pod installation and the return monitor line connection have been completed.
Although user interaction may be used to confirm that the pressure pods and the return monitor line have been connected by the user to the pressure pod receptacle and the return port, respectively, such confirmation by the user does not verify that the pressure pods or return monitor line have been installed correctly by the user. For example, if the user fails to install the pressure pods or does not achieve an airtight connection between the pressure pods and the pressure pod receptacle, such an incorrect installation may not be discovered until later in a machine startup procedure when more general pressure sensing alarms may be triggered. Isolating the cause of more general pressure sensing alarms may be difficult. Further, pressure sensor readings from a pressure pod that is not installed or is incorrectly installed would typically be invalid. Still further, if the user fails to connect the return monitor line to the return pressure port before proceeding with setup, then return pressure readings may be near zero resulting in incorrect operation and potential damage to a disposable set or other control unit components.